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Hanno Schoklitsch, Founder & CEO Being the front-runner has always excited Hanno Schoklitsch, the founder and CEO of Kaiserwetter Energy Asset Management. “It is always inspiring to be the one who facilitates innovative transitions, a philosophy which inspires my team to deliver state-of-art and unique solutions every day,” he says. The inception of the company was all about the being the front-runner in achieving the goals of the Paris climate agreement. The CEO recounts the story about the conception of Kaiserwetter. “We were studying about the impact that digitalization can bring to the existing renewable energy industry and decided to go ahead with a pilot implementation, and we have come a long way since then,” says Schoklitsch. He adds that as investors are consistently looking for methods to minimize risks and maximize returns, the only way ahead is to embrace smart technology. “We are in a scenario in which renewable energy is already less expensive than conventional energy,” mentions Schoklitsch. “From now on, the digital platforms that use the IoT and Smart Data will be the next key factor to achieve the objectives of the Paris Climate Agreement and attract more investors.”

The Data-as-a-Service ‘Enertech’ Company

Ever since the Paris summit in 2015—where several nations gathered toward the common cause of initiating best efforts to counter climate change—, there has been pressure on renewable energy producers to drive efficiencies. In the race to realize the idea of clean energy, energy production companies and investors are looking for advanced cloud-based smart energy management solutions, as conventional methods do not make the cut anymore. With IoT and big data analytics entering the scene for added efficiency, the landscape of renewable energy asset management is becoming more digitalized than ever. However, amid the pressure to increase renewable energy production, companies hesitate to replace their heavily-invested legacy systems with sophisticated technologies, as it comes with substantial investments. An internationally operating service provider of renewable energy asset management solutions, Kaiserwetter Energy Asset Management is a company that is a game changer in this arena. “In the race for clean energy to address the soaring costs of extreme weather due to climate change—$1.5 trillion in the United States alone—Kaiserwetter Energy Asset Management is leading the pack,” adds Schoklitsch.

We’re providing the ability to aggregate data from all over the world, and benchmark which equipment is working properly or not, and to make risk assessments on a local, regional or international basis

By harnessing the power of IoT and analytics, Kaiserwetter is campaigning for expanding the production of clean energy globally. The company combines the classic, technical, and commercial asset management methods with digital integration to maximize energy production. Headquartered in Germany, with offices in Madrid, New York, and set to expand to Beijing, this Data-as-a-Service (DaaS) ‘enertech’ company employs smart data analytics and predictive analytics to optimize the efficiency of power generation. By using a cloud-based platform underpinned by IoT, Kaiserwetter gives not only real-time analytics but also predictions on the future performance. This approach helps in forecasting possible downtimes thus allowing its clients to fix the issue beforehand. “We enable our customers to maximize the energy production and financial return of their wind and solar farms,” says Schoklitsch. The company has developed an innovative IoT platform, ARISTOTELES for managing renewable energy portfolios and combine real-time performance data with smart and predictive analytics. Schoklitsch informs, “In the end, it’s all about minimizing investment risk, and also maximizing the returns, and creating the highest transparency standards. And these three things we can achieve by using the data that we are generating out of the assets and bringing into ARISTOTELES.”

Bridging the Supply-Demand Gap

Designed as an executive-level dashboard, ARISTOTELES aggregates and correlates technical, meteorological, and financial data from wind farms, solar parks, biomass, and hydropower stations. It’s built on SAP Cloud Platform, and uses IoT, analytics, and machine learning capabilities from SAP Leonardo, epitomizing how both companies envision working together to address energy issues. This innovative IoT platform minimizes investment risk, maximizes returns, and creates high transparency standards.

"We enable our customers to maximize the energy production and financial return of their wind and solar farms"

On a financial level, the platform also analyzes the operational expenditure of power plants and derives conclusions that contribute to efficient decision making. What’s more, through their data analytics hubs in Hamburg, Madrid and soon in New York, the support team takes care to securing the data stream. Since the company makes use of cloud-based IoT technology, the solution gives not only performance data but also financial and economic data. This allows the customer to identify underperforming assets. “We’re providing the ability to aggregate data from all over the world, and benchmark which equipment is working properly or not, and to make risk assessments on a local, regional or international basis so investors can make performance-based decisions,” states Schoklitsch.

ARISTOTELES delivers the transparency investors and financing banks need to make confident decisions in renewable energies by recognizing the shift towards energy prices based on market principles. Furthermore, the platform gives real-time online access to technical and financial performance during the entire life cycle of a renewable energy asset. In addition, it will foster universal access to affordable energy, which is especially needed in regions such as Africa, Asia, and South America. The platform’s smart visualized graphics with drill-down options give investors the full picture of what’s going on in facilities like such as wind farms and solar parks. This includes weather forecast, production yield,power curve analytics, revenues, cash flow, financial KPI´s and trends. Further, the algorithms based on SAP HANA predictive analytics combine this facility data with relevant meteorological information allowing investors to make better decisions for maximizing returns.

Explaining further about the technology integration, Schoklitsch says that Kaiserwetter gathers the technical data used by ARISTOTELES for analysis by connecting the cloud platform directly to the SCADA system of each power-generating asset. Running the data through a dedicated algorithm is how the company ensures its clients are operating at maximized levels. In addition to that, Kaiserwetter also benchmarks its clients’ assets by comparing it with other Peers running ARISTOTELES. “One of the greatest advantages of our platform is that we can operationalize the benchmarking seamlessly,” adds Schoklitsch.

SAP and the Road toward Innovation

From day one, Schoklitsch and his team have been relentlessly pursuing a single vision: to drive investment in the renewable sector in order to help reduce climate change effects, while maximizing returns for investors. Assisting the company has been its co-innovation partner, SAP. “Our partnership with SAP begun three years ago and since then ARISTOTELES has won multiple innovation awards, including the SAP Innovation Award 2018 which honors companies who employ technology solutions in innovative and transformative ways. SAP is the market leader in enterprise application software, and furthermore it is at the forefront of the Internet of Things based solutions,” mentions Schoklitsch. He further mentions that ARISTOTELES platform has been built with the thought about what was really needed to tackle climate change-capital.

As climate change is one of the biggest challenges of the modern day, there is no excuse not to meet the targets of the Paris agreement. Allowing renewable energy expansion on a large scale is the logical course of progression for mitigating the effects of emission. In leveraging IoT and cloud-based analytics to increase efficiency, Kaiserwetter is helping several energy production companies to reap the untapped opportunities of the renewable energy sector and is leading the race to making the future brighter. “Investors want less risk and strong returns. The platform delivers the transparency investors need to make confident decisions in renewable energies. This applies for industrial countries like USA, Canada, Europe, Japan and Australia, but furthermore it will foster universal access to affordable energy, which is especially needed in regions such as Africa, Asia, and South America.” informs Schoklitsch. “What we would like to achieve is to give the investors and the financing banks the possibility to go for renewable energies. Put the money and the capital out there to achieve the goals of the Paris climate agreement. There’s no hurdle existing anymore not to invest in renewable energies. Go for it! Let’s go for the Paris climate goals, and we will achieve a great future.”